Sweets ── Wagashi (Japanese sweets)
Kuzukiri
Kuzukiri — noodle-like strips of kudzu starch jelly
Kudzu starch dissolved in water, poured into a mold, heated until set, then cut into thin noodle-like strips. Usually eaten with dark syrup, it shares its raw material with kuzumochi but is worked into a contrasting texture and way of eating.
- Yokan and agar jellies
Lineage
What it's made of
As simple as it gets: kudzu starch and water. The draw is a clear, smooth, slippery texture and noodle-thin strips, typically served cold with dark syrup poured over. Versions made from 100 percent kudzu starch command a higher price, and are said to be distinguished by texture from cheaper products blended with other starches. A high degree of clarity is said to be a direct measure of quality, with a cloudy white result seen as under-refined.
How it's made
Kudzu starch dissolved in water is poured thinly into a mold and set by heating in a water bath or over direct flame. Once translucent it is cooled in cold water, cut into thin noodle-like strips, and often served floating in ice water. How thinly the mixture is poured into the mold determines the final thickness of the strips, with a thinner pour said to yield a more delicate noodle. It is often served in a bowl with ice, the presentation said to be arranged so the eye, too, senses the coolness.
Why it took this shape
One account holds that while the base technique of dissolving and setting kudzu starch is shared with kuzumochi, rolling it thin and cutting it into noodle-like strips developed it into a summer sweet meant to feel cool. The clear look and thin cut are said to be a deliberate way of making the sweet slip pleasantly down the throat in the heat. It is often served as a sweet at traditional restaurants, and is said to have found a place in tea-kaiseki cuisine as a refreshing treat regardless of season.
Before you go
- How to shop in a depachika (department store food hall)A guide to browsing prepared foods and bento, choosing wagashi as a gift with a good shelf life, sampling etiquette, end-of-day discounts, asking for cold packs and wrapping, and finding your way around a depachika floor.
- Enjoying a bussanten (regional products fair)A guide to what's sold at a bussanten (regional products fair), how to find one, when it gets crowded, shelf life and taking food home, and how to fit one around a trip.
- Foods to look for in summerA guide to foods often seen in Japan around summer — eel on the Day of the Ox, hiyashi chuka, somen, shaved ice, edamame with beer, and hamo — with rough pointers for finding them.
Dishes in the same style
- AnmitsuCubes of agar jelly topped with red peas, sweet bean paste, and dark syrup. Said to have begun when a Ginza sweets shop in the early Showa era added its own bean paste to the simpler "mitsumame" — jelly and peas in syrup — marking a point where wagashi met café culture.
- KuzumochiKudzu starch dissolved in water and sugar, worked until translucent and set into a soft, jelly-like mochi. Known for a refining method called "Yoshino-zarashi," using icy winter groundwater, it is typically topped with roasted soybean flour or dark syrup.